Holder for telephone directory



Jan. 29, 1957 A. v. LAMOTHE 2,779,650

HOLDER FOR TELEPHONE DIRECTORY Filed Feb. 13, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR. ii/mw [Alva/w:

Jan. 29, 1957 A. v. LAMOTHE HOLDER FOR TELEPHONE DIRECTORY 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Feb. 13, 1953 m m w m United States Patent 6 This inventionrelates to a. holder foratelephonedi-rectory or other such books and hasforan .objectproviding adeviceifor the storage of such books during those intere vals when such books are notbeing. consulted for the,

information they contain.

It is generally true that ina great many ofiices, shops, and even in homes, what to do with the telephone, directory after one has consulted it for the. desired. informer.

ti on, presents a problem. Generallythelbook is lodged on a nearby table, deskor shelf, in fact tossed orthrown, there in many. instances, where it gets. buffeted about i through the normal use of other objects that occupy such,

tables desks or shelves. As a result.the paper back,

soon begins .to curl and becomes torn, the leaves of the bookfor a very considerable depth inwards from both, frontand backcovers. likewise. curliand become torn, and in a very g reat many. instanceslarge sectionsinboth; the frontand rearuofithebook. take one cauliflower?- appearance, Itthus. becomes. almost 1 an endless, taskvfor,

one wishing to getinformation from ,these, sections of. the book, to straighten out .the. leavesnsufliciently to ring;

a desired page, and. even when thepage. is found it;,fre-, quently results thatit'he. information .oneadesir s,hasbeen, worn or torn away.

' It is an object of this inventionto..provide,.a..holdfir. for telephone directories Iwhichfcan .beconveniently. ,posiw; tioned in close proximity. to the telephone, thus eliminate ing the necessity of lodging t'hebook among other objects. on nearby desks, tables or shelves,

It is another; object ofitheinvention.toprovide a holder, that wi lbpreserve the book. andlhusreliminate the ,danger, of its becoming so damaged that many .of the.pages..b.e-.. come useless. L i

A'notherjobject is to provide a holderthat.isadjustable so that it can be accommodated to telephone directories that are extremelythick, or to those.thatearelrelatively thin v w "Still another object is to provide aholderwhich, even though made according to a'single pattern, i. e., without being in one ferrn for a right handed'p'osition.andzinan.

opposite for a lefthan d'ed position, may be.op,erated,

when s ecure d either to the left sideor theright sidetof a desk, andeither to the. top. or.the .bot'torn..of;a. shelf.

These and other objects and advantages, ofmy ,inven; tion will-be apparent from the.followingadescription and accompanying drawingsiin which:

Fig. '1 is an elevationafview, inperspective, o,f.; one side of my holder,

Fig. 2 is a cro'sssectional view on line, ZTZ Qfi g, and

Fig. 3. is. an. elevational viewb in perspective, of :the opposite. sidesof the holder. from th-attshown in. Big, 1, and with the plate which forms the outer side oflth device movedoutwardly from its. normal position.

Rferiing nowctotthe drawings, plates ,11-,and.;12, form the twouside's of 1am openrended outer cornpartment, the top, the bottom, and theuclosed (rear) end o f saidoute compartment .being formed. by. .theoverlapping of i flanges 2,77%,fl5fl Patented den. 2%, 1'55? carried at right angles to the face of, and on each of three edges .of said plates, said open-ended outer compartment h aving an inside width slightly in excess of the thickness of. a telephone directory or other book or similar object tobe held, and an inside height and depth slightly .in excess of the height and depth respectively of said. book. Thus plate 11 is provided with bottom flange 13,; top flange 14 and rear flange 15 (Figs. 2 and 3 best show said-rear flange), and plate 12 is correspondingly providedwith bottom flange 16,- top flange 17 and rear flange .18.; Theoverlapping flanges are in slidably adjustablecontact with each other and are held in rigid relationship to each other by the following means: At

desired. intervals in oneof-a pairof overlapping flanges a. slot is. provided which is .in slidableengagement with a.screw,which.isthretdedinto the other of said pair of flanges, and when the heads of .the screws are tightened;

against the wallsof their engaging slots the flanges, are held rigid against each other. One such slot 19 ,is shown in,to p.flange, 17 of plate 12 which said slot coacts slidably, withscrew 20. The screw Ztbis ,shownin Fig. 1-

in, threaded engagement in top flange 14 of plate 11, whileinFig, 3 the screw 20 is shown in suspended position to indicate its relative functions with reference to slot-19 -.andthe threaded hole 21 in flange .14, Similar slot, and screw. arrangements are provided in thecoa-cting, bottomflanges 16.- and 13 and coactingwrear flangeslS; and 15';(shown in the cross-section, Fig, 2); The lengths ofscrewslii should be, such that when in place they will; not, protrude. beyond the inner surface of the inner over-1 lapping flanges into whichthey, arescrewed- By, means. of this slot and screw arrangement, the distancebetweeng plates, 12 and 11 maybe varied, and thus the width of;

the, outescompartrnent may be increased or decreased as, desired-L face oLflangei? so that slot 3W may, extendthrough both theplateli' and reinforcing member 22., correspondinglyia. reinforcing membern23, such asa. flat plate or.

material comprising the flangeis a very thin metal or. A still further advantagemay be.

a, plastic, material. had throughthe use of the reinforcing members 22and 23; the upper .flange may be cut away in the vicinity Where the, slot 19;,occurs, as shown at 24.(Fig. 1), so as to provide ,a groove into i which. the reinforcing member .23 [fits when theplates. 12 and 11 are moved closer. together or,

farther apart, Thus the reinforcing member 23, moving intoand inthe groove at 2 serves to guide the plate 12 andiits three attached flanges into proper positionv with respect-to plate 11 and its three flanges, particularly when similar. grooves and guiding members are. providedon thebottom and rear flanges comprising this outer com partment. This is particularly advantageous when the. outercompartmentis disassembled, as in Fig. 3, and. it is desiredto fit the .two pieces together to form, the compartment. When the groove 24, is provided for the guidingmember 23 by cutting away a certain portionof flange 17 the reinforcing plate 22 would then. carry the slot 19. In the overlapping arrangement asshown in. the drawings the flanges 16,17 and. 13, carried. byplate 12,; arelpositioned. outermost with respectto the corre: sponding flanges .13, 1 iand'15 of plate 11; but ifdesired,

the relativepositionsof the two setsof flanges may be If desireda reinforcing member 22,. such. as,.a small;;plate, maybe suitably .secured tothe flat sur- These reinforcing of the distance between plates 11 and 12, i. e., in the width of the said outer compartment, is desired the flanges 16, 17 and 18 may be made wider than as shown in the drawings. This will permit the slots 19 to be made longer, suitable increase in the length of the reinforcing member 22 being made at the same time. When the width of the outer compartment is adjusted to a suitable dimension, plates 11 and 112 are made secure and rigid with respect to each other by tightening the screws in their threaded engagement in the corresponding flanges of plate 11, and/or reinforcing members 23, thus forming a rigid outer compartment. If desired, this outer compartment may be strengthened by stiffening members suitably secured at different corners, such as the stiffening strap 25 positioned at the three edges of plate 12 along flanges 17, 18 and 16 and by the angle straps 26 positioned at the edges of plate 11 and secured to both the plate 11 and its adjacent flanges; or, when made of plastic the plates and flanges may be made thicker at suitable corners and elsewhere to give the desired strength.

An open-ended inner compartment, having side walls 27 and 28 (best seen in Fig. 3) which are provided with bottom flanges 29 and 30, respectively, and having its open end facing in the same direction as the open end of the outer compartment, is slidably mounted within said outer compartment. The bottom flange 13 of plate 11 of the outer compartment and the flange 30 of plate 28 are preferably made wide enough that for all adjustments in the width of both outer and inner compartments the flanges 29 and 30 are always in slidable engagement with said bottom flange 13, said flanges 29 and 30 therefore preferably not being in overlapping relationship to each other. Likewise side walls 27 and 28 of said inner compartment carry top flanges 31 and 32 (Fig. 1) which are in slidable engagement with top flange 14 of plate 11, the said top flanges 31 and 32 preferably not being in overlapping arrangement with each other and the widths of flanges 32 and 14 being such that for all adjustments in width of both the outer and inner compartments the flanges 31 and 32 are in slidahle engagement with top flange 14. The rear edges of side walls 27 and 28 are provided with flanges 33 and 34 (Fig. 2) respectively. These flanges overlap each other to form a closure for the rear end of the inner compartment. They are secured together by screw 35 threaded into flange 34, a slot 36 which co-acts with the shank of screw 35 being provided in the other flange, 33, in order to permit adjustment of the width of the inner compartment so that its side walls 27 and 28 may be brought into working slidable relationship to plates 11 and 12 of the outer compartment as the width of the latter is adjusted to different dimensions. If desired, more than one such screw and slot may be had to secure the flanges 33 and 34 together to give rigidity and firmness to the inner compartment.

The depth of the inner compartment, from its openended face rearwards, is materially less than the corresponding depth of the outer compartment. A knob 37 secured to side wall 27 of the inner compartment operates slidably in slot 38 located in plate 11 of the outer compartment, said slot being of such length that the inner compartment may be moved from its rearmost position, wherein its rear end (flanges 33 and 34) is in close proximity to flange 15 of the outer compartment, to its foremost forward position wherein its outer (open-ended) face is approximately in the same place as the openended face of the outer compartment.

The function of the inner compartment is to receive and carry rearward a telephone directory whereby the directory will be housed within the outer compartment with the outer end or edge of said directory approximately flush with the edges of the open-ended face of the outer compartment. This function is performed when the telephone directory 3? (Fig. 1) is inserted, preferably the bound edge foremost, into the open end of, and pushed back until it contacts the rear end of, the inner compartment, and by a slight further push to slide the inner compartment to its rearmost position, the depth of the outer compartment being such that when the inner compartment, carrying the telephone directory, is in its rearmost position the directory is in the aforesaid housed position. A further function of the inner compartment is to carry the telephone directory forward from its aforesaid housed or stored position whereby a sufficient amount of the book will be protruding from the outer compartment that it may be easily grasped by ones hand and moved to any desired position for use. This latter function is performed by moving the knob 37 from its rearmost position in slot 38 to any suitable position along said slot. I

In use the device may be secured to any convenient surface, either vertical or horizontal, in close proximity to a telephone. For convenience in securing the holder to a suitable surface, suction cups 40 attached at desired points to plate 12 of the outer compartment may be employed. For attaching these cups to plate 12 holes may be drilled in the plate and the holes countersunk on the inner surface of the plate. The stem ends of the suction cups, drilled axially and threaded, may then be inserted into said holes and secured by means of countersunk screws screwed into the threaded stems of the suction cups. Alternatively to the use of suction cups, the device may be fastened to suitable surfaces by means of screws inserted through countersunk holes in the ordinary fashion. All such screws should be countersunk so as not to interfere with the sliding relationship of the side walls of the inner compartment to plates 11 and 12 of the outer compartment.

It will be seen that my holder may be secured either to the right hand side or the left hand side of a desk, with the open end of the compartment or holder in both instances facing in the direction of the occupant who sits at the desk, without the necessity of having a right handed device for one side of the desk and a left handed one for the other side. Because of the fact that the bottom end of the holder is of identical construction with the top end the suction cups or other means used for securing the holder to a given surface may always be employed in conjunction with plate 12 as shown in the drawings. The device would simply be inverted, the top end as shown in the drawings becoming the bottom end if the holder were secured to the left side of a desk. Likewise, the holder may be used by securing it either to the top surface of a shelf or other horizontal surface, or to the bottom of the shelf. Thus my holder lends itself to use in four different positionsthe right hand or left hand side of a suitable vertical surface and the top or bottom of a suitable horizontal surface.

Thus, through the use of my device there is provided a holder for housing and storing telephone directories while not being used, which can be located at convenient points near the telephone, which is adjustable for different thicknesses of books and therefore adaptable to accommodate more than one such book as in a district Where there are a number of relatively thin or small directories, and which eliminates the necessity of lodging such books among other objects on desks or tables or shelves where they are subjected to undue wear and tear. In short, my device ofiers a solution to the problem of the danger of the telephone directory becoming so damaged that it often fails to contain the information which it would yield readily but for its damaged condition-information that is sometimes badly needed, as in cases of emergency. It is not a suflicient answer to this problem that the telephone company will replace a damaged directory with a new one.

If desired, as for example in economizing on material in the construction of my device, side wall 28 of the inner compartment may be substantially shorter in its dimension from front to rear than as shown in the drawings, or it may be entirely omitted along with its top and bottom flanges 32 and 30, and similarly the side wall 27 may be made much shorter than as shown in the drawings, or it may be omitted except for such portion as may be required to carry the knob 37.

It will be understood that the examples of construction and application 01 my invention given hereinabove are exemplary in nature, that various changes and modifications may be made thereto without departing from the spirit of the invention, and that there is comprehended within the invention such modifications as come within the scope of the following claim.

I claim:

In a holder for a telephone directory which may be interchangeably secured to the bottom and the top of a horizontal shelf and the right and left side of a desk and adapted for receiving said directory and presenting it for ready access forwardly from said shelf and from said desk when said holder is secured in any of said four positions, the improvement comprising in combination therewith an open-ended inner case uniformly rectangular in transverse cross section and dimensioned so as to readily receive thereinto and to readily permit withdrawal therefrom a telephone directory when said directory is inserted edgewise thereinto, the depth of said inner case measured from its open end being less than the width of said directory, an open ended outer case positioned about said inner case and so dimensioned that when said holder is in any one of said four positions with respect to said desk and said shelf the lowermost horizontal side wall of said inner case is in slidable relationship with the adjacent lowermost horizontal side wall of said outer case, a first side wall of said outer case being provided with a slot positioned parallel to the longitudinal axis of said outer case and adapted to receive in slidable engagement a knob secured to the adjacent side of said inner case whereby to move said inner case forwardly and rearwardly from its rearmost position within said outer case, and a second side wall of said outer case opposite said first side wall being provided with fastening means to secure said second side wall to the right hand side of a desk and alternatively to secure said second side wall to the left hand side of said desk and thereby present the open end of said case forwardly with respect to said desk when said case is secured to either of said sides of said desk.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 199,395 Amberg Jan. 22, 1878 874,442 Sandel Dec. 24, 1907 1,565,124 Vagedes Dec. 8, 1925 1,611,937 Nelson Dec. 28, 1926 1,682,423 Ross Aug. 28, 1928 1,696,483 Hiering Dec. 25, 1928 1,922,215 Newberg Aug 15, 1933 2,023,862 Storey Dec. 10, 1935 2,171,794 Jones Sept. 5, 1939 2,477,245 Giddings July 26, 1949 2,609,093 Lynn Sept. 2, 1952 2,624,646 Skukotf Jan. 6, 1953 FOREIGN PATENTS 15,184 Great Britain 1910 

